Purchase of new scoreboards at Reliant approved

Reliant Stadium's current video screen is due for a replacement. (Houston Chronicle)

As expected, the Harris County Sports and Convention Corporation board of directors on Wednesday approved a purchase agreement for two new digital scoreboards for Reliant Stadium.

The state-of-the-art digital scoreboards will be manufactured by Mitsubishi Electric’s Diamond Vision Systems Division and installed for the 2013 season in place of the current end-zone scoreboards.

County and Houston officials, as well as Texans owner Bob McNair, believe the new scoreboards, which will cost a total of $16 million, will enhance the city’s bid to host Super Bowl LI.

At the NFL’s May meetings in Boston, owners will vote on cities that will host Super Bowls L and LI. The Texans are a finalist for Super Bowl LI with the city that loses Super Bowl L — San Francisco or Miami.

Initially, McNair and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo will pay for the scoreboards, but they will eventually be reimbursed from Reliant Stadium’s repair and replacement funds that are collected from the hotel-motel tax and long-term auto rental tax.

In its fact sheet released Wednesday, Mitsubishi says there will be 14,549 feet of display surface. The company says the scoreboards will have “the widest display in professional sports (roughly 40 percent wider than current title holder Safeco Field in Seattle).”